Bupa | Award-Winning Patient Journey Video
An award-winning patient journey video that helped them win Best Patient Care at the 2023 Dentistry Awards.
KEY POINTS
- Client: Wessex Dental Specialist Centre & Bupa
- Job Type: Corporate promotional video, full patient journey
- Location: Wessex Dental Specialist Centre, Fareham, Hampshire
- Additional Services: Actor sourcing, auditions, casting & direction
- Cast: 5 professional actors aged 4–76
- Deliverables: Single promotional video covering the complete patient journey across multiple services
- Use Case: Website, social media, digital marketing & national award submission
THE CHALLENGE
Wessex Dental Specialist Centre & Bupa had built one of Hampshire’s most respected dental practices, offering everything from general dentistry to orthodontics, implants, oral surgery and sedation for anxious patients. The challenge was telling that story in a single video.
They needed something that could work hard across multiple purposes, engaging potential patients online while also being polished enough to stand up at a national award ceremony. That meant covering the entire patient journey, across multiple services, and representing the full range of people who walk through their doors every day.
But this wasn’t a straightforward brief. As a CQC regulated healthcare provider operating under the Bupa brand, there were layers of compliance, brand guidelines and patient privacy considerations that had to be respected at every stage. Real patients could not appear on camera. The practice environment had to be filmed around strict infection control and health and safety protocols. And the final video had to satisfy two very different audiences simultaneously, potential patients looking for reassurance, and a panel of national award judges looking for excellence.
Getting all of that right in a single shoot day required more than just a camera crew. It required a production team who understood the healthcare environment and knew how to work within it.
THE PLAN
Before we even picked up a camera, we got to work on casting. To protect patient confidentiality completely, we sourced and auditioned professional actors to represent patients throughout the video. Five actors were cast ranging in age from 4 to 76, deliberately chosen to reflect the genuine diversity of Wessex’s patient base, from nervous young children visiting the dentist for the first time to older adults undergoing more complex treatments.
Directing that range of ages in a clinical environment is no small thing. A dental surgery is not a film set. The spaces are tight, the equipment is specialist, and the atmosphere needs to feel calm and reassuring at all times, especially when you are directing a four year old in a treatment chair under studio lighting. Every actor needed to feel completely at ease, completely believable, and completely in line with the warm, professional experience Wessex delivers to its real patients every day.
On the day itself we worked closely with the Wessex team to navigate the realities of filming in a live clinical environment. Infection control protocols, CQC compliance, Bupa brand guidelines, all of it had to be respected without compromising the quality of a single shot. Our team moved efficiently and professionally through the practice, capturing the facilities, the clinical team in action, and each actor’s individual patient journey from arrival through to treatment.
We structured the video to follow the full patient experience across multiple services rather than simply showcasing the practice. The goal was to make someone watching feel genuinely understood, to see themselves in the video and think “this is a place I can trust.”
THE RESULTS
The finished video delivered on every level. As a patient-facing marketing asset it gave Wessex Dental Specialist Centre something they could use confidently across their website, social media and digital campaigns, a window into the practice that builds trust before a potential patient has even picked up the phone.
But the real measure of its impact came at the 2023 Dentistry Awards, where Wessex entered the video as part of their Patient Care submission and won. Beating out practices from across the country to take home one of the most prestigious awards in UK dentistry. The judges saw exactly what the video was designed to show, a practice that puts its patients first in everything it does.
Compliant. On brand. Award winning. One shoot day.
CLIENT QUOTE
“Love it!!”
Alice Stewart, Centre Manager, Wessex Dental Specialist Centre & Bupa
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